Veggie Monster

I think I’ve written this post about a million times in my head. And I wish I was exaggerating but there isn’t really much else to do when you are getting up every 2 hours with a baby ;)

I seriously thought that having a baby was going to be a lot easier than it is. The past 6 months have been pretty difficult and I would be lying if I said my confidence wasn’t taking a shit kicking.

I look back to when I started my blog (2 1/2 years ago!!) and so much has changed. I don’t even feel like my About Me page was written by me! I feel like my life is going in a different direction (I’m growin’ up!) and I really want my blog to be able to reflect that. I want to tell you all about Jett and the things that work for us and the things that don’t. I want to share all the food I’ve been making…except I don’t really cook anymore, Andrew does. I want to write about all the other things that are going on in my life right now and I don’t really know if Veggie Monster is the place for me to do that. I don’t want to stop blogging but my blog isn’t really inspiring me anymore.

So I guess what I am saying is…goodbye? For now? I’ll let you know if I start blogging again or if anything else changes. It is so bittersweet writing this post. Veggie Monster has been such a big part of my life for the past 2 1/2 years but I’m happy to be moving on :)

I wanted to talk to you guys about meal planning. I know what you’re probably thinking, but bear with me ;)

I wanted to show you what has been working for us for the last couple weeks. We have tried meal planning a million times. And because I read so many blogs/cookbooks/magazines you would think that I would always have it figured out what I want every night for supper. So not the case. I’m pretty good for breakfasts and lunches [smoothies and salads right now] but supper is always an “I’m huuuungry but I don’t know what I want” whine to Andrew. But I finally found a system that works for us :)

Andrew and I each pick foods/cuisines that we like and then pick the days of the week that will work best with our schedules/weather. If that makes any sense at all haha.

Example: We loove tacos so we picked Tuesdays to have them. [Taco Tuesday!!] Now every Tuesday I know we are having some kind of tacos. Last week it was fish tacos, this week it was enchiladas. I also love Italian food so this week we chose Wednesday for pasta. We use the same pasta and veggies and then make our own sauces. Super easy.

Okay so here’s this week’s schedule:

Monday – Grill [veggie burgers + salad]

Tuesday – Tacos [vegan enchiladas]

Wednesday – Pasta [goat cheese, fennel + mushroom fusilli]

Thursday – Pizza [homemade on the BBQ]

Friday – Tofu + Veggies [hemp seed crusted]

Saturday – Clean out the fridge/leftovers [take out for Andrew]

Sunday – Free night [supper with Andrew’s parents]

These meal plans have been so easy to follow and make grocery shopping a total breeze. I almost look forward to making them each week. <—geek

The burgers were delicious [I love lentils and mushrooms] but I could probably just eat that spread with a spoon. We used fresh basil from our garden and it was just insane. So simple and so delicious.

Friday I had my baby shower! The girls from work wanted to wait until Jett was born to throw me a party and it was so nice to see everyone! It was such a treat to interact with people that can actually talk back ;)

Jett and I got so many amazing thoughtful gifts ♥

[I wish they made that dress in my size!]

After everyone left I hung out with Jett while Andrew made supper.

Buddah burger with Vegenaise, mustard, pickles, tomato and lettuce, yam with salsa and feta and caesar salad with lots of avocado

Saturday morning we took Jett and Beasley for a nice long walk along the river.

As Jett is getting older she is getting so much more alert and doesn’t like to be strapped down in her stroller. The past three walks we have had to take her out and carry her. She just likes to look at everything!

We spent the day shopping yesterday [Andrew needed new clothes] and went and visited with his parents and nephew Jaxon. When we got home Andrew made the most delicious supper! Andrew usually makes supper because Jett usually wants to eat as soon as she smells food ;)

After breakfast we headed to our Bradley Method class reunion! There were 9 couples in our class and now that everyone has had their babies we decided to get together and have a potluck brunch and a play date :)

Prego before pic:

After baby pic:

There were five girls and four boys. Eight natural births and one c-section. Nine healthy, happy babies :)

[Jett’s skirt kept riding up so we just let her hang out in her diaper]

After the reunion we came home and Jett and I had a looong nap. Best.feeling.ever. I woke up feeling completely refreshed – naps don’t happen here very often – and HUNGRY! Thankfully we brought home leftovers from the potluck:

I remember when I got pregnant and Andrew and I were talking about my maternity leave. I thought I would have soo much free time. Time to blog, time to take Beasley for long walks, time to be creative in the kitchen and have supper made and on the table every night. Oh the things I would tell my naive pregnant self lol. Now when I blow dry my hair or empty the dishwasher I’m like:

Honestly the last 3 months have been really hard. Jett has been having some trouble gaining weight [she is gaining just slower than her doctor would like to see] and cries a lot because she is hungry. I am still breastfeeding and she is eating almost every hour so her and I have been stuck together like glue, which has made it a little hard to do anything ;) Things are definitely getting better now though and she smiles and laughs constantly! She copied me by blowing her lips [motorboat sound?] and I thought my heart was going to explode <3

Anyway, before this post becomes as wordy as the last one I’ll stop and just leave you with a whole crap ton of pics of the last month :)

I know this post is kind of a cop out. I’m working on that not being the case anymore ;)

Okaaaaay another month has passed and I finally have some time to sit down and write this out. My sporadic blog posts are getting a little out of control ;)

Anyway, here goes! Oh and FYI – super graphic. If you’re not into that…maybe just skip on down to the baby pictures!

I’ll start with Monday, March 19th.

Monday was my last doctor’s appointment and the inducement date was set for the 26th. I really did not want to be induced so my doctor had asked if I wanted my membranes stripped (it’s supposed to jump start labour). I said no, but asked if by Friday labour hadn’t started if I could come back and see him. He agreed. When I got home that day I told Andrew that I was going to try everything to get the baby to come before Friday so I wouldn’t have to do that (I had heard it was pretty painful and I wanted to leave all the paint for the actual birth haha). I drank about a million cups of raspberry leaf tea, ate tons of pineapple, did jumping jacks, went jogging by the river (10 second intervals) and then we decided to go 10 pin bowling that night. We played two games and I drank a spicy virgin caesar.

The next day around 11am, Tuesday March 20th I was sitting on my chair on my laptop (typing up my last post actually) when my water broke. It definitely felt like a big gush but when I ran to the bathroom it stopped. I wasn’t exactly sure if I had just peed myself so I called Andrew and asked if he could pick me up some litmus paper (I had read that if it is amniotic fluid it turns blue…) because I thought my water broke. I told him I didn’t think he needed to come home from work as I wasn’t having any contractions but thankfully he didn’t listen to me and took the afternoon off ;)

I had a shower and got ready while I got ready for him to come home and when we did I checked the fluid and the strip definitely turned blue. Not long after that I started having contractions. They started in my back and we started timing them – they were about 4 minutes apart and lasting about 1 minute each. Andrew kept saying that we should go to the hospital but I wanted to stay home a bit longer. I think I lasted about two more contractions before we left the house.

We got to the hospital at about 1:30pm and checking in went smoothly because I had been there on Thursday (random bleeding). They took me to an observation room where they hooked me up to the external fetal monitor for 20 minutes. The contractions started getting really painful and an intern came in and told me he had to check to make sure my water had actually broken. I was pretty upset – I felt that it was so obvious I was in labour – but they checked me anyway and confirmed that I was definitely in labour.

The intern told me that I was about 3-4 cm dilated and I couldn’t believe it. I was dilated that much 5 days previous and the contractions were really painful. They were only in the my back and I was trying everything to help with the pain – pelvic rocking, squatting, leaning against the bed while Andrew put pressure on my back, etc. I was about ready to take anything for the pain at this point – my contractions were overlapping and lasting for almost 2 minutes each time – and the nurses were definitely all for me getting an epidural. I remember one saying “You wouldn’t get dental work done without any pain relief would you?”. Because Andrew knew how badly I wanted a natural birth he told them that I would try to shower first and then we would see how I felt so they took me up to my birthing room. I am a pretty modest person and I’m sure Andrew could tell that I was already in transition when we walked into the room and without the curtains or door being closed I immediately got naked and threw my robe onto the floor before going into the bathroom haha. I am usually really grossed out by public bathrooms and showers and stuff but I’m pretty sure I would have kissed that shower floor had it helped with the pain.

The shower helped a little bit but by now I was moaning so loud and crying I couldn’t even tell the difference. Andrew kept telling me how good I was doing but I told him to stop looking at me and kicked him out of the bathroom while I screamed/squealed/moaned/cried some more. Not long after this I felt like I needed to push. I sat on the toilet backwards (no idea why this felt better than forwards?) and Andrew went and got a nurse and told her I was pushing. The nurse told him I absolutely could not push and they needed me on the bed to check me. They did another internal and I was 9cm dilated but my cervix still had a lip over it. The nurses and doctor on call all came in then and got everything set up. I was set up on the bed but I just wanted to be on the toilet. They reaaally didn’t want me to go back to the bathroom but I lied and said I had to poop so they let me go. About two seconds later the nurses convinced me not to birth my baby into the toilet and I reluctantly (thankfully) went back to the bed. They were going to let me be in any position I wanted – minus the toilet – but because the back labour was so bad, being on my back actually felt the best.

When my doctor go there he checked me and found that the lip on my cervix was gone so I was able to push. I pushed for about 45-60 minutes before she was born and they checked the heartbeat about 20 times. I squealed and screamed the whole time. I am positive that I scared the crap out of any other women who had not given birth yet on that floor. I actually felt a bit of relief from the contractions when I was pushing – like I had something else to concentrate on other than the pain. I’m thinking that was before her head was out because as soon as it was I started screaming my head off again. The best way I can describe it is that it felt like a semi coming through a dime hole. They put her on my chest as soon as she came out and delayed the cord clamping. Andrew ended up cutting the cord as I held her in disbelief. I pushed the placenta out after but it was nowhere near as painful as birthing the baby but still not easy. Andrew stayed with her the entire time.

I tore internally (probably from dilating from 4cm-10cm in an hour) so I had to get stitched up. UGH. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Jett Apple was born at 5:03pm, weighed 8 lbs 10 oz, 20 1/4 long and I was in labour for about 4 hours.

Some notes:

-I had no idea that recovery would be so painful. I laughed when I heard about the frozen pads and huge mesh underwear the hospital supplies until I had her. I froze my own pads and took a pair of those mesh panties home.

-Pooping is terrifying. Haha but seriously. Not sure why no one mentions that.

-When you’re pregnant and everyone tells you to nap LISTEN TO THEM. It’s crazy how little sleep you can survive on. Take advantage of your own sleep schedule while you can.

-Labour was definitely the most painful and challenging thing I have ever gone through. But I wouldn’t change it for anything.

-And to get a little mushy, I had no idea my heart could feel so full. And I didn’t think I could love Andrew anymore then I did but seeing him as a dad is the most amazing thing ♥

And now I have an almost 2 month old that loves showers, dances with her dad, coos, smiles and poops on everything. And melts my heart everyday :)

******Edited to add that our baby girl was born on March 20, this post was already written up and I just didn’t want to waste it :)********

Rambles of a crazy pregnant lady….

—>3 out of the 3 due dates I’ve gotten from my doctors have come and gone. March 16 was my last one. I always had a feeling that the baby was going to come early but this is obviously not the case. Have I ever mentioned that I am kind of impatient? It feels like I’m waiting in the longest line ever.

—>Maternity leave is soo boring! (I am going to regret saying this very soon I’m sure). I have been off work for 20 days now and I miss my job! And because Andrew works Monday to Friday I have totally become this girl…

…errrrrr or something like that.

—>Every cupboard and drawer in my house is clean. Fridge and freezer as well. But my bag isn’t packed yet. Go figure.

—>My stomach is totally a portable table. And I love it.

edamame beans + happiness

—> Our nursery is still not finished because we don’t know the sex of the baby but we do have the hushamok[instead of a bassinet]set up :)

—> Our Bradley Method classes are finished! We started taking them in January and I absolutely couldn’t recommend them enough. Love love love. I went into class knowing zero about labour (contractions, push, baby!) and now Andrew and I feel waay more prepared. If you have never heard of Bradley Method, definitely check out this website.

—> My feet have never ever been so swollen in my life. I’m talking like elephant size. I am debating putting a picture on here of what they looked like after our walk the other day but wouldn’t want to scare the shit out of anyone else trying to get pregnant. I will show you a picture of how I wash my feet after work. Who knew big feet = stinky feet?? [Have I grossed you out yet?]

—> We had almost no snow as of yesterday. So I had been enjoying breakfasts and lunches on our deck.

So I know I told you guys that I would be making a Baby Page so as not to overload you with all my crazy ramblings/thoughts/baby shiz but I couldn’t figure it out. Technically NOT technical at all so from now on baby posts will be mixed with food posts. Hope that’s okay :)

I don’t want to talk about babies at all though today! I want to talk about breakfast. Yummy yummy breakfast. If haven’t noticed on the blog before (I know it’s kind of hard with the lack of posts…) but I get into suuuuper food routines. I have no problem eating the same meal a couple times a week or month. Example: Peas and Thank You Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna.HOOKED. But I couldn’t imagine eating the same thing everyday for lunch or dinner. Boring much? But breakfast on the other hand is a completely different story.

A few years ago I never used to eat breakfast at all. I used to sleep until noon (or 2 or 3), wake up and have lunch. Or if I did wake up before lunch time I would eat leftovers for breakfast. Spaghetti at 8am? Yes please. I’m not sure when I came to the realization how important that first meal of the day is, but now I can’t imagine not eating as soon as I get up. And not leftover rice with mushroom gravy either ;)

Breakfast is the one meal where I can eat the same thing every single day and not be bored. But it changes weekly.

Just as obsessed I was with those bakes, I looove loveDeb’s protein muffin. I’ve probably made it uhhhhhh…a couple 100 times? I make mine with brown rice flour, applesauce, egg whites, blueberries and vanilla bean powder. Deeelicious!

Muff topped with lots of almond butter, 1/2 english muffin with butter + jam and an orange

Topped with LOTS of peanut butter, maple syrup and hemp hearts

Same as above but with lots of blueberries cooked in.

Aaand of course I could not forget eggs. I could eat eggs every single day and probably be a very very happy lady. There are soo many different kinds of ways to eat them! Over easy are my favourite though :)

I have totally saved the best for last. PANCAKES!! I am so so obsessed with this recipe right now. I add in 2 tsp of bee pollen, use Sun Warrior protein powder and have tried almost every fruit in them :)

with strawberries, maple syrup and hemp hearts

with blueberries, lots of butter, maple syrup and hemp hearts

with raspberries, butter and maple syrup

So tell me….

What is your favourite breakfast food?

Do you get into major food routines?

Notice how muffins and cereal did not make my list? I love them both but only for snacks, not for breakfast. :)

Miss you guys tons and tons,

Paije xo

PS. Has anyone seen my ankles?? Yeah….me neither. They’ve been missing for awhile now haha

I actually spent all three holidays with my other family – work. Thankfully I love them lots so it wasn’t a big deal ;) And thankfully I was still able to spend time with my real families, too. I am pretty damn excited for holidays this year though – I’ll be on maternity leave so I won’t have to worry about working Christmas or New Years!

Lots has been happening with the baby, too. I guess that was bound to happen – now that I’m 8 months (32 weeks)!! It’s been going by so so fast. I think I only have 20 days left of work? And I’m pretty sure I am getting bigger by the day, at least that’s what I keep hearing. “Are you sure you’re not having twins??” is another common one :/

I have so much to update about pregnancy/baby, etc. but I’m going to make a separate place for that so you aren’t bombarded by baby posts :)

I have been trying really hard to eat well and get all the nutrients I can now, basically making up for all the cans of alphaghetti I ate in my first trimester :). I have a bunch of food pics for you and even a recipe! Oh yes!

I have been trying to get this recipe from Andrew for the last 2 years – it’s definitely one of my favourites. I finally got him to write it down :D

Spinach and Mushroom Cakes

- 8 oz fresh spinach

- 4 mushrooms, diced

- 1/4 onion, diced

- 4 cloves of garlic, diced

- 1 egg

- 1/3 – 1/2 cup grated cheese

- 2 tbsp + 1 cup bread crumbs (I used finely chopped spelt crumbs)

- 2 tsp sriracha, or to taste

- salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F. Steam spinach until wilted. Remove and squeeze out excess liquid. Fry onion + garlic until soft over medium heat in a little bit of oil. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper and fry until mushrooms have browned. Chop spinach and throw in pan with mushrooms, onions and garlic. Cook off any excess liquid from the spinach and mushrooms and add the sriracha. Remove from heat and put mixture in a bowl to let cool for approximately five minutes. Add the cheese and mix together with your hands. Add the 2 tbsp of bread crumbs. Make into patties with your hands. (Our mixture made 2 big patties and 1 small one). Dip into whisked egg and then into bowl of bread crumbs. Place on pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes per side. Let cool for about 5 minutes before eating.

It finally looks/feels like winter now – just as of today

yesterday

today

so I am off to make a big pot ofthis soup and then venture out to the grocery store and then to our birthing class tonight!

Hope you’re all doing well! If I don’t procrastinate for another 2 months, you’ll probably hear from me again really soon!

I can’t believe another week has gone by already! I don’t normally have weekends off and I’ve forgotten how fast they go by. It was definitely nice to spend the weekend with Andrew and cross tons of stuff of our to-do list. We just found out today that our nursery has to be re-drywalled and insulated. Yessssss. Ah, better now than later right? And now the baby won’t freeze when s/he goes to bed ;)

This is the second week that we have meal planned and it feels so good to be organized. I swear being pregnant is so boss for getting things done. I woke up at 6:30 am this morning and started cleaning. And then had a nap. Wiin.

We also meal planned successfully last week buuut I forgot to take photos. As you can tell by the photo above, the sun goes down way before it’s time to eat which = ugly photos. And when I get home from work at 7 pm I am too hungry to paparazzi my plate ;)

I did manage to snag a couple randoms though. This is a food blog after all, yeah?

Side note: I bought the mung bean pasta this summer while in NC and it immediately went on my shit list when I got home. I couldn’t eat aaanything I bought in the US (I think because of my morning sickness?) so the mung bean pasta, many squeeze packs of Justin’s almond butter, Trader Joes chocolate bars all sat in the cupboard unopened for months.

Okaaaaaay. This post has been in the works for like uh, 2 months?? Procrastination station over here.

I knew I missed blogging when I started updating my facebook status with the food I was eating :)

So I’m back! I think anyways. I’ve know I’ve sure said that before!

First of all, thank you soo much for all your congrats on the baby. It really means a lot to me! And I can’t believe that I am going to be 6 months tomorrow! So crazy but soo exciting :)

5 1/2 months

I know most people have a story about how they planned their pregnancy with their spouse, tried a bunch of times, or something of that nature but that is not my scoop at all. Andrew and I had just started talking about marriage when I took that pregnancy test. When it came back positive we both kind of laughed awkwardly…..and then I burst into tears. I think I cried that whole day. I called my mom to tell her the news and she said “You can cry today. But tomorrow be happy, you’re going to be a mom”. She’s kind of a smart lady :)

Anyways, I had never really read anything about pregnancy/babies before and started to feel reeeeeally overwhelmed. The biggest being money. We had been trying to get a renter in our basement suite for a month or two and nothing was working out (huge headache, LOTS of weirdos) and even though we bought our house completely renovated we still had/have an entire nursery to furnish! I had no idea how expensive baby stuff could be until I started doing some online window shopping. NUUUUUTS. We have rented out our basement suite now and it’s definitely been a huge relief.

So I thought I’d write down a few things that I have learned being pregnant so far. I know this won’t interest everyone but I swear I wish someone would have told me all the crazy things to expect <—for me anyways.

First Trimester

morning sickness is real. Like beyond real. From weeks 7-11 I pretty much spent the entire time on the couch. Minus a week I spent in Charlotte, NC. I spent that week laying in bed until noon and then eating soda crackers and water trying not to throw up while shopping with my mom and aunt. THANK GOD I was on holidays from work.

you won’t care where you throw up or who sees you throwing up. I puked on the plane in Minneapolis and then again in Charlotte. And then in the car at Andrew’s nephew’s baptism. Oh and many bathrooms. TMI? It’s like having the flu for a month. Or maybe even food poisoning. Uuuughh.

food aversions are also very real. Included on my shit list was peanut butter, chocolate, COCONUT, eggs, any kind of veggie, salads, basically anything with nutritional value or green in color. The only thing I wanted to eat was bagels with cream cheese, pasta, alphaghetti (cans and cans), takeout anything, broccoli and cheese rice, SOUP, cheezies, gummy worms and pickles. Uncontrollable.

totally forgetting what it’s like to work out. I had an energy level of about a 2 out of 10. Naps were mandatory, even after spending the day doing nothing.

being completely batshit crazy. I needed to make Andrew about 100 of these:

Not joking at all either. I probably should of made a few for my family as well.

awkward fat 4 months. My clothes stopped fitting and maternity clothes looked awful. I felt like I woke up one day and had gained 10 lbs. In my stomach. Lululemon has been amazing.

feeling normal again! Yaaay!! Work has been a trillion times easier but I did modify my night shifts – I still work 7am – 7pm for two days and then 7pm – 4am for two nights. So so glad my job is accommodating.

a real pregnant belly! Oh yes…clothes look cute again! And thankfully Andrew’s sister-in-law has lent me ton of maternity clothes so I didn’t have to go out and spend a fortune on new clothes!

really starting to enjoy being pregnant. I am so much more comfortable with how I look now and it’s so cute how excited Andrew is getting. He also loves the belly :)

still having crazy cravings. I woke up one morning and could not get shrimp or banana bread out of my head. Obviously not together but I definitely made both that day. BTW, mama peas banana bread (subbing greek yog for Earth Balance) is so bomb. I think I ate half the loaf the first night. And it freezes really well, too.

nightmares. Terrifying nightmares. All the time. And when I fall back asleep I fall right back into them. Needless to say, I haven’t been getting very much sleep. BUT I did dream about melty chocolate chips cookies the other night :)

acneeeeee. I look like I’m going through puberty again. No cute prego glow here. I never had perfect skin before but now it’s hormonal and random. Arms? Back? Face? Sure.

feeling the baby kick. best feeling ever. Same with hearing the heartbeat. <3

I obviously don’t have too many pictures (I finally took my camera out this week….) so I only have a couple food photos!

If you made it through this wordy post – congratulations! I have been having a really hard time trying to figure out what to do with my blog. I don’t know if I should just keep it as it is and keep the baby posts with the regular posts or to make a separate section so you don’t have to read about my pregnancy if you don’t want to. Any ideas?

I still have a million things to tell you (it has been three months since I blogged!!) but I don’t want to put you to sleep ;)